Following the broadcast of "Buying the games" the Panorama team found themselves facing charges in Bulgaria as a result of their secret filming there, as well as further charges of incitement to corruption, both brought by the state prosecutor.

The use of special surveillance devices (SSD) is still illegal in Bulgaria and both producer Howard Bradburn and reporter Justin Rowlatt had worn them while filming Ivan Slavkov explaining how he could he London win votes for its bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The additional charge of incitement to corruption was based on the argument that it was the BBC who had been trying to encourage Slavkov into being corrupted rather than attempting to expose him as already corrupted.

Andrew Jennings, who worked as a consultant to the programme, said that the accusations made Bulgaria look laughable to the outside world. Slavkov's response to Jennings' comments on the case was to call him "homosexual".